


Just a little longer

by Want_to_read234



Series: My First Whumptober (2020) [20]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Exhaustion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Want_to_read234/pseuds/Want_to_read234
Summary: Peter final year exams are coming up soon. Between school and Spider-Man he just doesn't have time to fit in sleep. Just because he tells himself he'll be fine doesn't make it true.Day 23: Exhaustion
Relationships: Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: My First Whumptober (2020) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948717
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Just a little longer

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,
> 
> So I'm from Scotland, and have no idea how American exams/finals work. In movies they always seem to be based off a week which is what I'm going with. In Scotland, they are spread out across a month since every pupil across Scotland sits the same SQA exam at the exact same time, which I don't think happens in America? I'm not even sure it works that way in England/Wales since they have different companies who provide the GCSEs? Honestly, I'm not sure. 
> 
> But hey, Enjoy!

Finals were going to be the death of him, and they hadn’t even started yet.

They started next week, and he needed to do well in order to get into MIT.

Over the past month his free time had dwindled down to zero. Between school, decathlon, patrol, his time with Mr Stark in the lab and studying he was lucky if he managed to fit time in to sleep. More often than not, Peter was returning from patrol just to sit at his desk finishing homework or revising some of his notes before grabbing a couple of hours sleep before getting up to do it all over again.

When Ned had started to notice the bags growing under Peters eyes, he had suggested he give Spider-Man a break till after exams, but he couldn’t do that. Why should the people of New York have to deal with a higher crime rate, the risk of being hurt, just because Spider-Man had a couple of exams coming up. If he wanted to be a hero, he just had to get on with it.

Which was what he had been doing.

His metabolism had increased when he had been bit by the spider, making him eat a _lot_ of food each day just to feel even relatively satiated. But the past couple of weeks he’s been eating near constantly and still not feeling anywhere close to full. It was like he had turned into the bottomless pit hit aunt was always joking about.

Mr Stark had even commented on it during a lab session a couple weeks ago. He had been standing at his workstation, working his way through 5 bags of crisps before his mentor questioned if he had missed lunch. Peter had froze, not realising he was eating as much. He had just been hungry. A type of hunger that nothing was quenching. Peter had laughed it off as just the studying using up more energy than he thought. After a tense moment of Mr Stark studying his face his mentor had shrugged and stated he went through the same thing during his MIT days.

Peter wasn’t stupid. He knew that he needed to be getting more sleep. It was likely that if he did, the constant irritation he had been feeling would ease off. The worried looks that his aunt May, Mr Stark and even Happy shot him when they thought he wasn’t looking would disappear if he actually got a full night of sleep.

But that would have to wait till after his exams. He only had a week left then it would be over. He would be able to focus solely on sleeping and patrolling.

Until then, he just had to suck it up.

xXxXxXx

Peter had only slept for 2 hours last night. He had had a busy patrol with a hostage situation in a botched bank robbery causing him to stay out 3 hours past his curfew and when he finally made it back to his apartment he still had his homework to finish.

Leaving him running on empty the next day at school.

He was sat in AP Chemistry, his last class of the day, staring at the clock. Someone in a classroom nearby kept tapping their pencil against the desk and the sound was driving him crazy. He had caught himself a couple of times crushing dents into his pencil as he squeezed his fist in frustration. All his patience had been used up on Flash being his usual self during lunch earlier.

Clenching his jaw to hold in another yawn, he leant forward to rest his head in his arms. Honestly, why did he need to sit through his teacher revising Avagadro’s law? He had been doing that since he was 10 when he read about it in a chemistry book.

The school bell caused him to jump, knocking his textbook off the edge of the table. Sighing, he bent to pick it up as the rest of his class started filing out. Gathering up his things, he trudged to his locker to grab anything he would need for tonight.

Leaning against his locker to stay upright, he slowly moved his books. Everything was feeling heavier than usual, which given his super-strength was concerning. But he added it onto his ever-growing list of things he could worry about later.

“Hey dude, you ok?” Ned had appeared by his side at some point.

“Oh, hey Ned. I’m fine, just didn’t get much sleep last night, you know?”

“I saw that on the news, the bank robbery, right?”

“Yeah, it was nuts. We got everyone out, but it just took some time…” he sighed.

“What even is your life? Its crazy.”

“Yeah... crazy” he murmured. Ned always found anything Spider-Man related amazing, but Peter was just done. He wanted to go home and sleep, but Happy would be waiting outside to get him to the lab with Mr Stark.

“Anyway, meant to ask, are you coming to study group tomorrow? There’s only 2 days till the first exam so wondering if you were going to be out patrolling or if you would come along?”

Shutting his locker with more force than necessary, he turned to face his best friend. “I’ll be there. I need these to go well if I want to be in with a chance of getting an MIT scholarship.”

“Did Mr Stark not already tell you that he had pull there? And that he would pay for your college?” Ned asked confused.

Screwing up his face, he sighed. “He did, but I can’t accept it. If I’m going to go, I need to get in myself. Not be constantly thinking that the only reason I got to go is because of Spider-Man and my connection to Mr Stark. And I can’t let him spend all that money on me. He’s already spending so much on Spider-Man stuff, I can’t have him spending even more on just _Peter Parker._ ”

“Come on we both know that you are probably smarter than the majority of the students there anyway. And he wouldn’t mind spending the money. He wouldn’t have offered if he did.”

“Whatever,” approaching Happys car, he waved Ned off. “I’ll see you tomorrow for the study group. I’ll text you later.”

Falling into the backseat of the car, Peter grabbed an energy bar from his bag before resting his head against the window. Chewing slowly, he caught the look Happy was throwing him in the mirror.

“I’m fine Happy. Just a long day at school.”

“Uh-huh” the man sent him a disbelieving look before turning his attention to the road.

Peter zoned out for most of the drive. His body was feeling like it had been weighed down with lead, but his head was light. His eyes kept slipping closed, and he’s pretty sure if he let them be for a minute, he would be out cold before he realised it.

Even with him fighting to stay present, the car rolled up to the tower a lot sooner than he would have expected. Maybe he had fallen asleep without realising it?

Hauling himself out of the car, he dragged his bag out before trudging to the elevator. Greeting FRIDAY as he went, he was silently taken up to Mr Starks private lab.

Taking a deep breath, Peter followed the well-worn path to his desk in the lab, sliding gracelessly into his seat with a huff. He took a moment to rest his head in his hands, before his mentors voice snapped his attention.

“Peter!”

“Huh, what?”

“I’ve been calling your name for 5 minutes… you walked right past me when you got here.” His mentor scanned his face, probably checking for some kind of injury, “Should you be here today? Why not try and get some sleep?”

Groaning, Peter moved to open his bag and get his work out, “I don’t need that right now. I need to get on with my work, I can sleep next week! My finals start in 2 days.”

“All the more reason to get some sleep kiddo. You’re not going to be performing at your best when you look like a walking zombie”

“I’m fine,” reaching down for a pencil, which of course was right at the bottom of his bag, he lost balance almost face planting it on the floor. The only reason he wasn’t currently nursing a broken nose was because Mr Stark had moved to catch him before he could.

Looking up at his mentor sheepishly, he avoided eye contact as he whispered, “Sorry, I just got a bit light-headed.”

His mentor gave him a critical gaze, before something clicked behind his eyes. “FRIDAY, be a dear and lock down the lab for the next 12 hours.”

“WHAT?” Peter shouted at the same time FRIDAY confirmed it was done.

Mr Stark wrapped his arm around Peters shoulders as he started moving towards the elevator. “Well since the lab is locked down, I think it only makes sense we go upstairs and watch a movie on the big soft couch, don’t you think?”

“I – I have so much studying to do Mr Stark. I can’t just drop it all, to sit around watching movies…”

“Yes, you can. Or I will drag you along to the medbay and have Cho forcibly knock you out for 12 hours. I’ve already got your aunts permission to do that. I feel like choosing to watch a movie is a better option, don’t you?”

Frowning at his mentors words, he toyed it over in his head. He had no doubt that Mr Stark would be able to convince Dr Cho to give him some from of sedative to keep him out for a bit and rest, but then he wouldn’t be spending any time with his mentor or at least time he would remember. If he went to watch a movie with his mentor, yes, he might end up falling asleep anyway, but at least there would be some time spent together that he could remember. He treasured any and all time he got to spend with the man he had admired since childhood.

Slowly nodding, Peter allowed Mr Stark to drag him to the couch in the common area. Sinking into the soft cushions he sighed. His eyes shot open when his spidey sense sent him a warning. He opened them just in time to see Mr Stark had throwing a pile of blankets at him. Catching most of them, he unfolded the one on top and spread it out to drape across his and Mr Starks legs. The man had moved to join him on the couch and was asking FRIDAY to queue up the Star Wars films, going in chronological order.

His mentors arm reached out to wrap around Peters shoulders, allowing him to rest his head against the mans chest.

Sighing in contentment, he pulled another blanket from the pile to wrap around him. His eyes slipped shut and he was out before the title sequence had even finished scrolling.

Maybe some sleep before his exams was a good idea.


End file.
